Hi, I was looking to start learning After Effects but at work they wont buy into it so I am left with Apple Motion, taking a look i can understand the basics but i really want to start trying out things and learning what it can do.

Does anyone know of any good tutorials that are out there or have some good advice for a newcomer to Motion.

Thanks
Tom

There's a lot of tutorials here:
Tutorials, Tips, and Troubleshooting for Apple Motion - Blog (http://www.applemotion.net/)

That's Mark Spencer's blog. I've got one of Mark's tutorial DVDs from Ripple Training on Motion. It's very good and, I think, a must if you are going to be using Motion for paying work. Good sections on titling, greenscreen, etc. Although I've got a friend who is very familiar with other compositing programs (on the PC) and I saw him sit down with Motion for the first time ever. Within about 20-30 minutes he'd basically worked out the interface and was turning out some pretty amazing stuff!

So I guess it depends on your level of proficiency when you start off. Do you need to be walked through all of the major points and how to turn out polished products (Mark's first DVD or something else like Lynda.com)? Or do you purely need a few tips just to familiarize yourself with the Motion interface itself? (Because you are already "up to scratch" with using compositing apps.)

Motion Smarts ihas some useful tutorials for jumping in and getting your feet :
Motion Smarts: Tutorials (http://www.motionsmarts.com/tutorials.html)

The Peachpit APTS "Motion 4" book is a good place to start for a beginner:
Peachpit: Apple Pro Training Series: Motion 4 (http://www.peachpit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0321635299)

Patrick Sheffield's "How to Cheat in Motion" is a great resource but you need to know what you are doing first:
Amazon.com: How to Cheat in Motion (9780240810973): Patrick Sheffield: Books

Hope it helps
Andy

I've really liked the books from Peachpit. They are very comprehensive in their teaching method and work you through basics to more advanced techniques. They come with DVD media that allows you to work as you learn. You can get them directly from Peachpit Press or through Amazon. They're also great to have around in the event you need to brush up on a specific effect for a project you're working on but can't quite remember exactly how to get that effect.. I've even taken a project from the book and altered the parameters to create something similar but new for a project.

I use Software training online-tutorials for Adobe, Microsoft, Apple & more (http://www.lynda.com) to learn a new program. It's great because the lessons begin for people who have never even opened the program and take you through almost everything. It's not free but in my opinion worth the money.

Also look on YouTube. I have found the best thing to do is to play around with things and get a feel for what you can do. I use Motion all the time and love it for what I do. I have purchased some training DVD'S which have helped me on some projects but over play around with things.

Cheers

I would recommend Software training online-tutorials for Adobe, Microsoft, Apple & more (http://www.lynda.com).

Great tutorials on just about any software you can think of and very well done.

Motion Tutorials & Training (http://www.lynda.com/home/ViewCourses.aspx?lpk0=97)

There are some free Lynda.com tutorials to get you started with the interface and basics here:

Final Cut Studio Training, Final Cut Pro Video Tutorials – lynda.com Online Training Library (http://files.lynda.com/files/finalcutstudio/index.html)